What are You Afraid Of?
by Thewriter254637189200
Summary: The Teen Titans have to face an unknown threat that appears to prey on the fear of others. This leads to the Titans facing some of their greatest nightmares. This is my first story so keep that in mind when you review.
1. Just Another Fight

The Boy Wonder landed silently on the roof top of the Jump City Research Facility. He was joined shortly by a small green spider which transformed into the well known teammate.

Beast Boy opened his mouth to say something, but shut it just as fast as Robin made a quick motion with his hand to be quiet. Robin crouched low over the side of the building and Beast Boy followed suit, stifling a yawn.

Now would be a good time to mention that it was 3 a.m. in the morning, and as if that wasn't bad enough on a Saturday. They had originally gotten a report of Cinderblock attacking the Jump City docks. As the entire team had woken themselves up and prepped for the fight, an addition report came in that Red X had been spotted near the Research Facility. This had caught Robin's attention as he had been hunting for Red X since the attack against the Brotherhood of Evil. He then decided to split the team into two groups. Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire would go after the tougher villain at the docks while Robin and Beast Boy would look in to the Red X case.

So here they sat watching as the thief silently scaled the wall. Red X then picked the lock in one of the windows and slid inside, closing the window behind him. Robin leaned back and quickly thought of possible scenarios and how each one would work out. He chose the best course of action and turned to Beast Boy to tell his green ally the plan.

Red X walked along the dark halls like a ghost. His night-vision enabled mask illuminated the path he needed to take. He walked into the room A-25, which was occupied by two rows of refrigeration units. He went over the list in his mind of what he needed: 10 milliliters of arophosamine, 15 milliliters of kinophosate, and 15 milliliters of the most important ingredient. For this he went to the very back of the room where a large safe sat with a bio-hazard painted on to the front.

The thief made quick work of the key code on the front of the safe and opened the door without as much as a squeak. He reached in and very gingerly pulled out Xenthopium a chemical very similar to the Xenothium that powered suit. One of the key similarities was that it could kill you in its uncontained form. One of the key differences was that Xenthopium was used to make other drugs more potent.

As he placed the three vials on his utility belt, the quiet _swish _was all Red X needed to hear as he barrel-rolled across the floor. A bird-a-rang shot from the shadows and stabbed into the wall where Red X was previously standing. His mask hid the smirk on his face as he turned towards his _lone_ aggressor.

"I was wondering when you where going to show up, Robin."

AAA

Cyborg pulled the T-car to a stop as Raven, and then Starfire, landed behind him.

Raven turned towards Cyborg, "What's the plan?"

Cyborg's robotic eye caught movement on the other side of the bay. He zoomed in and saw Cinderblock hurtling towards the Jump City Lighthouse. The Lighthouse was largely not operational and was kept up for ceremonial purposes. Therefore, Cyborg reasoned that they wouldn't have to worry about any civilians being in immediate danger, but then he saw two cars and a school bus flipped on their sides-half buried under rubble. Through the small portions that were not covered in wreckage, he could see children attempting to squirm through the small holes.

"Cinderblock is head towards the lighthouse, Star can you handle him for a few minutes?" Cyborg asked as he got back into the T-car. Starfire nodded her head, and blasted off towards the dull but dangerous giant. He then turned to Raven, "Help me get these citizens out." Her only reply was a nod and she turned towards the three vehicles.

Starfire landed in front of the lumbering monster's path and powered up her starbolts, "Stop man of construction blocks!"

Cinderblock was shocked to suddenly see one of his enemies appear out of nowhere. But that shock only lasted a very short second. With new resolve, the Titan's enemy sped up.

Starfire fired up a salvo of starbolts against his chest giving off a Tamaranean war cry.

The blast did little to Cinderblock and soon his fist was headed for Starfire. The punch was dodged with ease and was parried with a super-powered uppercut that knocked the villain onto his back. Starfire was on him in an instant, delivering a rapid succession of blows to the chest and abdomen. He stopped the attack by putting her into a bear-hug that would crush a normal human's spine. Fortunately for our super-heroine, her spine was quite stronger than a human and the crushing hug only bruised her ribs. She broke free and flew above Cinderblock's head. She delivered a swift kick that knocked the villain several meters away. This left the villain dazed and seemingly incapacitated.

Cyborg arrived followed by Raven, both of whom had just finished evacuating citizens, walked over the fallen Cinderblock and the heavily breathing Starfire.

"Nice work Star-" the half-metal Titan was cut short when Cinderblock's eyes opened and his hand rapped around Starfire's throat. With the alien girl still in his grip, he backhanded Cyborg into the lighthouse. He then threw Starfire into the side of the T-car, pushing it back several meters and knocking the Titan out cold.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven's signature mantra was spoken as dark energy wrapped around her enemy and smashed into the ground repeatedly. After which, she threw him into the ocean. This, like all of the other attacks, did not stop Cinderblock from standing up. Albeit, he was teetering on his feet and several cracks ran along his body.

Cyborg picked himself up out of the large hole in the lighthouse and looked up just as Raven finished with her attack. He then looked to the left and caught sight of the most horrific sight. His car, his baby, was completely destroyed! The doors were smashed in and the hood jutted out at an unnatural angle, the wheels bent outwards.

Cyborg stopped staring at his car in a stupor when he heard a groan. He ran over quickly and saw Starfire lying next to the car. He applied as much First Aid to her as he could and laid her down in the partially undamaged back seat of the T-Car. He then looked back over to Raven who was currently throwing chunks of debris at the weakened villain.

"Anytime you want to help Cyborg!" Raven's usual stoic voice showed signs of strain as she side stepped a large concrete chunk that was thrown her way. She quickly caught the concrete as it flew by and smashed it into Cinderblock.

Cyborg jumped into the air in-between Cinderblock and Raven, his sonic canons at 100% power. "Booyah!"

Cinderblock's eyes widened as the blast caught him full in the stomach. Before he could even begin to recover from the attack, Raven's dark energy wrapped him in a tight hold. This allowed Cyborg to deliver a right hook that knocked the villain sideways into the water. Then a large chunk of rock encased in dark energy came down hard on his head, finishing the fight.

AAA

A/N- Alright so how was it for a first chapter? Good I hope. This is my first story so please hold off on the flamethrowers. The next chapter will be posted hopefully Monday, but you never know.


	2. The Plot Thickens

Robin pulled his arms up into a fighting stance as Red X did likewise.

"It's been while Chuckles, how's my favorite traffic light?" Red X taunted.

Robin's scowl deepened at the mocking of his choice of wardrobe. His reply was a quick downward swipe, meant to knock an opponent off their feet. Red X did a backflip onto the top of one of the refrigeration units. Using his momentum, he caused it to fall downwards towards Robin. This did little to hamper Robin's attacks as the masked hero threw three bird-a-rangs that caught Red X's cape, pinning him to the wall.

Robin took advantage of the precious second that it took for Red X to pull himself free and brought the bow staff in a downward swipe that connected with the villain's muscle in between his shoulder and neck. Red X gave a grunt as he fired two of his red projectiles at Robin's feet. Robin sidestepped to the right, dodging both of the shots. He was not prepared however for the roundhouse kick that knocked him into one of the many refrigerator's. It crashed down and broken as Robin felt shards of glass cut into his left arm and side, which took the brunt of the fall. He ducked just in time to dodge Red X's kick.

This however proved to put Robin in a predicament when four of Red X's projectiles landed on him. They were the adhesive type and pinned him to the floor. Robin tried to break free, but the gluey substance would not give.

Red X bent down at seeing that he had the advantage, "Really? That's it? You must be getting soft on me Chuckles."

"You might be surprised," Robin smirked.

Suddenly, Red X found himself in a flurry of green as an anaconda began to squeeze the life out of him. He started to see red spots in his vision and under the mask his face was turning blue from the lack of oxygen. The green anaconda had no intention of killing him of course, so Beast Boy loosened his grip barely. This proved to be a mistake when the thief activated his electric settings and shocked the green boy.

Red X ducked out of the hall way and activated his cloaking device. Beast Boy prepared to follow as he got into his wolf form and picked up Red X's scent. The green titan began to follow his senses as he bounded across the hallway. He could smell the nervousness of Red X as he followed. This intrigued Beast Boy, for Red X was never the type to be nervous during a fight, even if he was losing. As he rounded a corner, a familiar red throwing star cut across his hind legs. He let out a yelp in pain and reverted back into his human form as he grabbed his calf. Blood seeped through his costume and dripped onto the white floor. He tried to transform back but soon realized that the cuts had left him unable to run, much less carry on a fight.

After pulling himself together, Beast Boy limped back to his leader. Robin was just cutting away the rest of the red glue as the changeling arrived. "Did you catch him?"

Beast Boy leaned against the wall and shook his head, "He nipped me with one of his red x-a-rang thingies." He gingerly touched the incision and yelped in pain.

Robin nodded his head; he hadn't really expected Beast Boy to catch him anyways. "Well, let's check up on Cyborg and the others. Hopefully they will have had better luck."

AAA

Red X walked silently up to an unmarked, seemingly abandoned warehouse. As he reached to open the doors, they gave a long creak and opened of their own accord. He walked in, trying not to let his nerves get the best of him. The room was pitch black except for a single bulb in the middle. He found that if he turned on his night vision, it appeared to be just an empty room with some crates spread around. Under the bulb was a plethora of laboratory equipment. Test tubes bubbled with unknown chemicals. Whiteboards on stands were lined up side to side with math equations that shared more a resemblance to hieroglyphics.

Red X stopped under the bulb and waited for that chilling voice. His employer had never shown himself, even somehow avoiding Red X's night vision. _"Welcome back. Do you have what I asked for?" _the voice was like the whisper of a ghost.

Red X steeled his voice and replied, "I have the vials here." He held the pouch up that contained them. "The agreed price was thirty thousand for the delivery correct?"

"_Indeed,"_ at this a black duffle bag launched from the shadows and landed at the thief's feet. _"Lay the vials on the table please. And leave. Your services are no longer required."_

Red X laid the chemicals down and walked towards the exit. He felt the eyes of his employer on his back all the way to the door. _"As a word of advice, stay out of Jump City for the next few days." _Red X nodded his head and walked out of the door. He walked down the empty street and turned back to see two yellow eyes watching him from the darkened doorway. The doors to the warehouse slammed shut and Red X shivered. He had some clients in Central City to get to.

AAA

The Titans gathered around Starfire in the medic bay of the Titan's Tower.

"What's the situation with Starfire, Cyborg?" Robin asked worriedly.

Cyborg looked up from his table, "She has two fractured ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and a minor concussion. Considering the beating she took, it is a good thing she is Tamaranean or this could have been much worse of a problem."

Beast Boy and Raven were watching from the back of the room. Beast Boy leaned on the wall; trying to take pressure off of his left leg, which sustained a deeper cut than the right.

"Are you certain you don't want me to heal the wound on your legs Beast Boy?"

Beast Boy shook his head at Raven, "No thanks Raven, I know that it takes a lot of your energy to heal someone, and you just took on Cinderblock."

Raven smiled one of her miniscule smiles, _even while he is hurt he still is trying to help others_. "Okay Beast Boy, I think Cyborg is ready for you."

Beast Boy stepped forward and nearly fell to the floor when Raven reached out and pulled him up. "Alright, maybe I was hurt a little worse than I thought," Beast Boy chuckled trying to ignore the searing pain in his leg. Raven put her arm under her teammate's shoulder and guided him to Cyborg, who met them halfway. Cyborg rolled up Beast Boy's pants leg just past the cut and examined it.

"Well the wounds are not infected and the cut didn't hit muscle. It'll sting for a few days but you shouldn't have any major problems," The team's medic explained, "Jut try to keep pressure of your left leg especially and make sure to keep clean bandages on it."

"Thanks Chrome-dome," Beast Boy said as his best friend wrap his cuts in bandages. "Well, it's five in the morning and I need my beauty sleep. See you in the morning Cyborg." He winked at Raven and hobbled out of the door.

Raven rolled her eyes and turned to Cyborg, "You should get some rest too." When Cyborg opened his mouth to protest, Raven spoke first, "Don't worry, I will look over Starfire. Besides, you took more of a beating than I did. I could use the time to meditate anyways."

Cyborg looked down at the girl that had come to be his little sister. She had opened up greatly since the Trigon incident and now spent a lot more time with the team. She was still Raven however, and rarely participated in any of the activities choosing instead to watch and comment. Cyborg smirked, Raven wouldn't have volunteered to take his place when the team was first made. _You may just be getting to her yet Beast Boy, _the cybernetic teenager thought to himself_._ Indeed, he was the one who spent the most time around Raven, always trying to get her to smile or join in on one of their activities.

Robin walked over to the two other superheroes, "I'm going to see if I can find out what Red X was trying to do with those chemicals that he stole and who he was trying to sell them to."

"What makes you think that he is going to sell them?" Cyborg questioned.

"The chemicals that he stole could not be used on his suit and he has no other purpose to steal things like that for himself."

Both exited the room and went their separate ways, Robin to his computer and Cyborg to his recharging station. Raven got into her lotus position and watched them leave. She looked back at the sleeping Starfire and then let herself fall deep into her own mind.

AAA

Paul Wes sat in one of the many darkened alleyways of Jump City that no respectable person would dare enter. He pulled his ratty coat closer to his body trying to suck in what little comfort and heat it offered. It was the middle of fall but the winds blowing off the coast made it feel much more like a winter. This wind also managed to keep him awake for majority of nights.

He finally felt himself succumbing to sleep when he heard it. At first it just sounded like whispers and was so faint that Paul assumed that it was the howling of the wind. But then he heard it again only louder.

"Who's there?" he called out into the night. No one answered, but he continued to look around.

Paul sneezed and rubbed his irritated nose. _Great_, he thought to himself, _now I have a cold_. He curled up and started to drift back to sleep.

"_Paul? Paul? Are you there Paul?" _at this Paul shot up and gazed into the alleyway trying to see who was in the shadows.

"Who are you? How do you now my name?"

"_I know a lot about you Paul. I know you lost your job, that your wife left you and took your only daughter. I know that your mother lives in Jolly Oaks Nursing Home and that your father died of Alzheimer's." _Two glowing yellow eyes suddenly appeared in the dark alley. _"Don't worry Paul, you're giving up your sanity for science. It's the greatest sacrifice you can make." _

Paul screamed as the figure leapt from the darkness and clamped a hand over his mouth. Gas emptied from the beast's hands and Paul had no choice but to inhale. The world started to spin and Paul dropped to the ground. The monster fell back into the shadows of the night_. Another success. Some refinement and my final product will be ready_, it thought to itself.

AAA

A/N- Decided to turn this one in a little earlier! How was my dialogue? I find that I do better with action scenes than that. Anyways, I hope to be able to shoot out one chapter every two or three days. Thanks for the reviews by the way, it really encourages me to write.


	3. An Average Day at the Tower

Raven had remained by Starfire and meditated through the night. Her meditation was, in a way, more refreshing than actual rest. Starfire remained sleeping peacefully with no complications. Cyborg came in the next morning around 8:00 to relieve Raven of her duties.

"How is she?"

"Nothing happened last night."

Cyborg glanced over at Starfire, "Alright, why don't you go and get some food, I don't think Beast Boy or Robin are up yet."

Raven nodded her head in appreciation. First, she went to her room to retrieve one of the many books lining her shelves. Then, she made her way back to the living area of the Titan's Tower. She arrived at the kitchen and prepared some of her herbal tea. When this was completed, Raven sat down at the table and looked out at the city, shining in the autumn sun. She basked in the rare moment in which the city could be seen without the crime ridden streets being prevalent, when it could almost be viewed as a peaceful place.

The door swished open and Beast Boy jumped through, "GOOD MORNING JUMP CITY!"

Almost.

Raven rubbed her forehead trying not to beat the green boy for interrupting the moment. She did her best to ignore Beast Boy, but of course he would have none of that.

"Hey Rae, whatchya doing?" he asked the girl as he grabbed a package of tofu bacon.

"First of all, my name is Ra**ven **not Rae. Second of all, I was enjoying the piece and _**quiet**_ of a morning sunrise. Although, I can see why someone of your… mental capacity, wouldn't be able to understand that."

Beast Boy scowled at the insult, but then shook his head, he wasn't about to let Raven's sarcasm ruin his day! He dropped the tofu bacon into the pan and turned up the heat on the oven.

"You want some?" Beast Boy called over to the empath."

"Beast Boy, think for a moment will you? Out of all the times you have asked me if I want tofu, have I ever once said yes?"

Beast Boy shrugged and turned back to his artificial meat, "Your loss."

AAA

Robin rubbed his eyes. Unlike the other Titans, he didn't rest the previous night. Instead he opted to figure out what the connection was between Red X, the chemicals, and the known villains in Jump City. All he had come up with so far was dead ends. He leaned back in his chair and tried to think of other leads to follow. After a few minutes, he leaned forward again and looked through the files on the three chemicals: kinophosate, arophosamine, and xenthopium. The three, when mixed together, created a deadly poison that could kill you within hours of exposure. Additionally, it was virtually undetectable once it reaches the bloodstream.

That could have been the reason why it was stolen, but the young detective highly doubted it. Robin suspected that something more than just a toxin was being made, for much more inexpensive and convenient routes could be taken to make a chemical bond with the same effect.

Robin looked up at the clock and decided to call it in. He exited his room and went first to the medical bay. Starfire was sitting up in her bed and eating a small meal prepared by Cyborg. The cybernetic hero looked up from the computer monitor that he was looking at and waved to Robin.

"Hey man, I was just about to get something to eat, call if you need anything."

"Sure," Robin said as he walked over to Starfire.

"Hey Star, how are you feeling?"

"I am doing much better boyfriend Robin; did friend Raven and Cyborg defeat the block of cinder?"

Robin then proceeded to fill her in on how the fight went after she was unconscious as well as what happened when he and Beast Boy chased after Red X.

At the end of the explanation, Starfire looked up at Robin with worried expression, "Please, you are not going to do the 'isolating of yourself' again are you?" The memory of when Robin had been tracking Slade still in her mind.

Robin smiled reassuringly, "Of course not, I was heading down to eat breakfast anyways. Don't worry, I promised not to get like that ever again, and I intend on keeping that promise."

AAA

Cyborg walked up to the doorway to the kitchen of the Titans Tower and immediate cringed at the horrid smell emitting from the kitchen, his eyes narrowed. Only one thing emitted a smell that made Cyborg disgusted with life, "Tofu."

He walked opened the door and greeted Beast Boy with the same words, "GET THAT GOD FORSAKEN GARBAGE YOU CALL FOOD AWAY FROM MY STOVE!"

Beast Boy gave one of the usual responses, " WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO EAT? MEAT? THAT'S BASICALLY ASKING ME TO EAT MYSELF! AND IT ISN'T _**YOUR**_ STOVE, IT'S THE TITAN TOWER STOVE."

Raven nearly killed both of them with the stove being argued over. Instead, she inhaled deeply and drank the last of her herbal tea. She toned out the arguing, which is no small feat, and sat down on the couch of the Titan's Tower. She pulled out the book that she had brought along with her.

The door opened and the leader of the team entered. Robin looked over at the two squabbling teens. He shook his head, already knowing what they were fighting about. He moved around the two and grabbed a bowl of cereal. Robin then poured milk into the bowl and walked over to the couch where the empath was sitting. He grabbed the T.V. remote and flipped to the news channel.

"-In other news, Paul Wes was found today outside of City Hall. The former lawyer was laying outside of the building. Reports state that his only words spoken so far was, 'fear itself'. With no documented case of mental illness, and because of the toxicology report coming back clean, the police are unsure of the cause for Mr. Wes' sudden mental state. He is being taken to McGregor's Hospital for a full medical analysis. Back to you Mark."

Robin continued to flip through the channels, finding nothing worth watching. He kept thinking back to that case about Paul Wes; something about it seemed familiar.

AAA

An unmarked semi-truck slowed to a stop at the loading area of an equally obscure warehouse. Two men exited the truck and opened the back. One went to the warehouse's side and hopped into a forklift. He came back around and unloaded four large crates. The forklift took each of the crates into the building. The driver found it odd that the only thing there was a make-shift laboratory in the middle of the room. He shook his head, remembering that he was getting paid to unload this stuff not to ask questions.

"Hey Max," the forklift driver called out to his friend.

"Yeah?" Max responded as he entered the building.

"Have you seen the guy who hired us?"

"No, not since he called me. Don't worry about it Jim, he'll show."

Jim didn't like this. Ever since Max had talked him into making a little _off the book money,_ the small-time criminal had grown more nervous. They had delivered to a lot of unsavory employers and he knew that one day all of this was going to catch up to him. Either by the Teen Titans or one of the many criminals that they worked for.

Apparently the fear was visible on the young man's face when Max walked over, "Relax, everything is going to be fine. It is just a simple delivery. We get paid, we leave. In and out."

"I don't know man… Somethin' about this place doesn't seem right. You look to see what was in those crates?"

"Of course not; remember? We were paid five thousand in advance to not look at whatever is in there." Max looked around and scowled, "Where is the guy anyways, I figured he would have met up with us by now."

Suddenly, the lights all shut off. Jim nearly jumped out of his skin but Max rolled his eyes. He had been in the business of under-the-table delivery for seven years now; and five years of that in Gotham. He wasn't about to let some wannabe crook scare him.

"I believe that we agreed on payment of fifteen thousand each for me and my associate?" he called out into the darkness.

Jim gulped, he wasn't as seasoned as Max was and never enjoyed talking to those who hired them.

"Hello Max, it's been a long time. I almost didn't recognize you." The same icy voice that had hired Red X and tormented Paul Wes seemed to come from everywhere.

Max's eyes widened as the realization of who he was speaking to hit him, "But you're- you're"

"What?" the voice interrupted, "Dead? Locked away?" Two yellow eyes appeared in the darkness. "Far from it. I am alive and well, and Jump City is my new laboratory. And here, the only problems I have are the Teen Titans, which shall be dealt with easily.

Unfortunately, in order to keep from attracting any- unwanted attention, no one can know that I am here….. Well, I suppose it would be wasteful to kill two perfectly good specimens."

The two smugglers who were already backing away, turned to run at the implications of the words. This proved futile when the figure leapt forward and grabbed them. Jim screamed in horror at the creature before he lost all grip on sanity.

AAA

Beast Boy turned off the Gamebox and looked at the clock, 11:45. He had been playing Mega Monkeys Seven for three hours now. Robin had left to go train in the gym, Cyborg was working on the repairs of his "baby", and Raven was in her room. He flopped on the couch and sighed. He was hungry- breakfast already forgotten- and looked at the kitchen. It was just so far away! He held out his hand and willed the fridge door to open.

Nothing happened.

Giving a sigh, he pushed himself off the couch and walked over to the refrigerator. He quickly made himself a sandwich and started for the Titans Tower garage. Maybe Cyborg was done or at least would want to take a break, and they could go do something in the city. When he reached the garage he saw Cyborg working under the hood of a stripped out T-car.

"Hey Cy!" Beast Boy called, not really thinking about the fact that his friend didn't know he was there.

"WHOSZAA!" Cyborg cried out and jumped up, banging his head on the hood of the car. He pulled his head back down quickly, which made the hood fall and hit him again. "YEOOOWWW!"

Beast Boy at that point decided that Cyborg could use some time alone and managed to sneak out of the garage. _Maybe Robin wants to do something,_ he thought. He walked over to the gym and found Robin preforming several attacks on a dummy. Robin stopped and looked over at his green friend.

"Hey Beast Boy. Decided to do some training?"

The green teen scratched his head, it wasn't like he had anything better to do. "I guess."

"Great," Robin, "How about some hand to hand combat?"

The changeling shrugged, "Alright."

The two moved to one of the sparring mats on the floor and got into their combat stances. Robin charged first and faked a right hook, instead kicking Beast Boy's chest. The other saw what was about to happen and blocked Robin's attack. Beast Boy parried by pulling Robin toward him by the leg and wrapping his arm around the boy wonder's throat in a simple but effective headlock. Robin flipped Beast Boy over his back and onto the floor. He attempted to pin his opponent down, but was stopped when Beast Boy kicked upward with both feet and landed a lucky shot to Robin's stomach. The green teenager rolled away and jumped back up as Robin caught his breath.

The boy wonder was impressed. Beast Boy had improved in both physical strength and agility. Indeed, having Robin as trainer had caused the teen to get stronger and faster. Either that, or Robin seriously needed to brush up on his skills.

The two continued to spar for several minutes until both were drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. Beast Boy attacked again with a leg sweep that knocked Robin to the ground he went to pin him but quickly found himself laying on his stomach. Robin had him in a classic police hold that hindered the person in the hold from being able to use his arms to get up. Robin counted to five, marking him the victor.

"Impressive," Robin commented, "You almost had me." He held out his hand to Beast Boy, who took it, and pulled him up to his feet.

"Thanks dude. I'll win next time." Beast Boy left the training room to grab something to eat- he sniffed the air, and then his shirt- and to take a shower.

AAA

Alrighty then! Little bit longer of a chapter. Nothing really big happening here. I suppose not every one of them can be a fight scene or a cliffhanger right?

Thanks for the reviews! It's really encouraging to hear the feedback. As a side note, if there are any grammatical errors that you see, please tell me. I do read over it, but I occasionally miss a few things.


	4. Brain Games

Beast Boy exited from the shower and put on a fresh jumpsuit. That was another area in life in which he improved. The teenager now actually attempted to do his laundry. He realized that smelling like two-week old B.O. doesn't exactly help to attract the ladies. He grabbed his old costume and tossed it into his room, where it landed among the steadily growing pile of clothes. What? It's not like he _completely_ changed.

He walked into the living room to see Raven sitting at the couch _reading_. The boy rolled his eyes, of course she was reading, what else does Raven do?

She looked up from her book at him and decided that it wasn't worth it to engage him in conversation. She continued to read while Beast Boy prepared himself a glass of orange juice. He sat at the table and drank it, trying to think of something to say to Raven.

Unable to stand the silence, he decided to do the thing that he believed he did best. "Hey Rae," she glared at him. "-ven. You want to hear a joke?"

She sighed; she had to give him points for trying, "Alright Beast Boy, one joke."

"O.k." Beast Boy cracked up at his own joke, "What did the ocean say to the boat?"

Raven looked at him. "What?"

"Nothing, it waved!" At this Beast Boy started to laugh, quite loudly, and fell onto the sofa. When he finally looked up, he saw Raven reading her book. He could practically hear the crickets chirping. "Oh, come on! You could at least pretend to laugh."

She looked up at him, " .Ha."

Sighing in defeat, Beast Boy turned on the T.V. and switched it to the Gamebox. He started the game _Combo-Fighter 4._ The gamer was about to hit the start button when he realized that he really didn't feel like playing against the computer. But Cyborg was still fixing the T-car and Robin was in his office trying to find a lead on the Red X case.

Who else would play? Unless… He looked at the second player controller and then at Raven. He shook his head and looked back at the start screen. He then looked at Raven again. Feeling courageous, he opened his mouth-

"No."

"Seriously?! You don't even know what I am about to ask!"

"I am not going to play one of your childish games."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty Please?"

"Beast Boy, I already told you no."

"Can't you just do anything fun?"

"I do things that are fun for me. It is the same with everyone else, we all have our own likes and dislikes. You play video games, I play board games; Robin likes to train, Starfire likes to watch Robin train; and Cyborg likes to work on his car."

Beast Boy scratched his head, then he had an idea. "Ok, how about we play a board game!"

Raven cocked her eyebrow at the suggestion, "You? Play a board game? I am surprised pigs haven't started flying." After being on the receiving end of the blank stare, she realized that her green teammate was serious.

She entertained the idea and decided that it would be interesting to watch. "Fine, what do you want to play?"

"Hhhhmmm… How about chess?" he said enthusiastically.

"Are you sure? That is a pretty challenging game."

"Sure, I got to start somewhere right? I'll go find it." Beast Boy ran off to find the game in one of the storage closets.

Raven sat at the kitchen table and waited for the changeling to return. _He has changed a lot since Tokyo_, she thought to herself, _he is taller than me now and I think Robin's workout routine has made him more muscular… _She blushed and stopped the trail of thought. She was a teenage girl after all, not even the "unemotional Raven" could keep her mind in check all the time.

The doors opened and the boy she was thinking about walked through with a chess box in his arms. Beast Boy laid the box on the table and pulled out all of the pieces.

"So, uhhh what does the horsey thing do again?"

AAA

Robin paced in his room. He was getting nowhere! There were too many possibilities as to why Red X stole the chemicals and who would be interested in them. The boy wonder decided that stressing himself out wouldn't help and he decided to turn on the small, flat screen T.V. in his room.

Indecently, the news channel was what the T.V. was turned to, "Another shocking incident involving two Jump City delivery drivers just came in. Max Darvy and James Cameron where found in the street today, reportedly displaying symptoms similar to that of Paul Wes. Both are suspected in being involved in several cases of trafficking illegal fire arms, drugs, and other items to known criminals. Police are looking for a connection in between the two cases, but it is so far unclear as to whether the cases are related."

Robin's eyes narrowed as he reached for his communicator and contacted the police. "Hello... Yes, I need the files on the two cases involving Paul Wes, Max Darvy, and James Cameron. I will also need blood samples of each victim. I believe they may have information that will help me with a case I am currently working on… Thank you, I'll come by to pick it up."

He grabbed his motor cycle helmet and headed for the Police Station.

AAA

Raven finished explaining how each piece moves and began the game. "Alright Beast Boy, do you want to go first or second?"

"I'll let you go first," Beast Boy said.

Raven shrugged and moved the pawn in front of her king two places forwards. Beast Boy narrowed his eyes in concentration. He held his hand over the Left Knight and then drew it back. Raven smirked at how hard Beast Boy was trying. Her opponent finally decided to move the pawn in front of the king two places forward; mirroring the empath's movements. Raven quickly responded by moving her bishop diagonally. Not realizing what Raven was doing, Beast Boy moved the pawn in front of his rook two places up. Raven then moved her queen into position. Beast Boy squinted trying to see what Raven was doing. He then moved his free rook forward.

Raven smiled and moved the queen all the way forward to take out the pawn diagonal to Beast Boy's king, "Checkmate."

"What?! How?" The changeling yelled in surprise.

"My queen has checkmated your king. You can't take my queen because my bishop is protecting it. This is a common sequence known by most chess players."

"What? There are sequences in chess? No fair! I didn't know that. I demand a rematch!"

Raven rolled her eyes, of course Beast Boy wouldn't be able to accept defeat. She was about to say no and that she had other things to do; which would have been her usual response. This time though she felt like she actually wanted to play again against Beast Boy and try to teach him some better moves. She passed off the feeling of warmth in her stomach as simply being happy to have an opponent to play against in chess.

"Alright we can go again. I'll even give you a few pointers."

AAA

Robin stopped the R-cycle and removed his helmet. He walked up the steps of the police station and pushed the door open. He walked up to one of the officers and asked where he could find the files on the Paul Wes, James Cameron, and Max Darvy. The officer told him that Detective Lawrence was leading the case and that his office was down the hall to the left. Robin thanked the cop and went to speak to Detective Lawrence. He knocked on the door.

"Come in." a rather gruff voice called.

A man who looked to be in his early fifties sat behind a desk, writing paperwork for an unknown case.

"Hello Detective, I believe that you have the case files that I requested."

The policeman looked up from his notes, "Oh, yeah. Uh…hmm…" He looked around his desk, "Well I left the darn things around here somewhere. Aha, here they are." Lawrence pulled out three thin manila folders from a stack of papers. "There's not much on the case. The three victims have no past mental illnesses and no detectable drugs in there system. Do you have any idea what it is?"

Robin took the files and looked over them, "I have a few hunches, but nothing concrete. Do you have the blood samples?"

The detective pulled out another folder with three petri-dishes inside. "Yep, here you go."

"Thanks, if I need anything I'll be in touch."

The policeman nodded and returned to filling out paperwork as Robin exited the police station.

AAA

_Well, well little bird, trying to play detective are we? Don't worry, I will visit you soon enough. _Two yellow eyes watched from afar at the boy wonder. Robin hopped onto his bike and rode off, unaware of what troubles were coming. The figure vanished into the shadows.

AAA

Sorry for being super late on this one. I was planning on writing this earlier but couldn't when I realized that I need to work on a speech. Also, I realized that I had done very little BBRae moments in the story and decided to devote this chapter mainly to bonding time between the two.


	5. The Reveal

Cyborg walked into the living room, rubbing the back of his head where the car hood had hit. He then looked up to see the back of the very Grass Stain that had caused him to get hurt. Cyborg glared at him and started to think of the different ways to get revenge when he realized what Beast Boy was doing at the kitchen table.

On the other side of the green teen was Raven. This in itself was shocking to Cyborg, but what really surprised him was what they were doing. In the middle of the table was a chess board, and the Beast Boy was actually playing the game! Cyborg wanted to know more and decided to make his arrival known to the two by coughing conspicuously.

"Oh, hey Cy," the changeling called without turning around. "Hold on a sec, I got to finish my move."

Raven simply nodded at the half-metal teen in greeting.

Cyborg's eyebrows shot up as he confirmed that his suspicions were correct and Beast Boy was actually using his brain. He also confirmed that Raven was really spending time with him without being forced. The chess player in question moved his knight and then turned around.

"Did you need anything?" Beast Boy asked, then his eyes widened and he chuckled nervously, "You're not still mad about the whole car incident are you?"

This reminded Cyborg of what he was doing here in the first place. The young hero smiled threateningly, "Oh, don't worry. A little pay back will cheer me right up."

Beast Boy gulped and Raven just rolled her eyes at the boys.

Cyborg started to walk out of the room, "You better watch your back Grass Stain. Revenge pranks can be a pain." He then left, already scheming what to do.

Beast Boy turned back around and shook his head, deciding to worry about Cyborg's "revenge" later. He looked down to see that Raven had taken his knight with her rook.

"Checkmate."

"Darn, I almost had you that time!" Beast Boy sighed in defeat. "What could I have done better?" he asked as he continued to stare at the chess board and the pieces laid out.

Raven smirked, "Don't worry you get better over time." She got up from her chair and headed for the door. Raven looked at the clock and raised her eyebrows in surprise, they had been playing chess for nearly 2 hours. Raven realized that she needed to finish the book she was reading before Beast Boy asked her to play chess.

"It was… fun. I need to finish reading my book though, so we will have to stop here."

Beast Boy looked up quickly when Raven said this, "You had fun?"

"Yeah, I did. We should do this again sometime Beast Boy." Raven was just as surprised as her green friend at what she was saying.

"Oh uh… yeah cool, sounds cool." Beast Boy nearly did his victory dance right then but decided that Raven probably wouldn't like that.

"Anyways, I'll be in my room if you need me."

"Ok, I guess I'll just play my game." The green teenager turned back to the TV and turned it on, ecstatic that he got Raven to actually tolerate his presence without saying something sarcastic for over ten minutes.

AAA

Robin stopped his R-cycle and hopped off; he looked over to the half completed T-car next to him. _Guess Cyborg is still working on it_, he thought to himself. He grabbed the files and the blood samples and headed to the lab. Robin looked at his watch, which read 6:30. He had stopped for takeout from his favorite Chinese Restaurant in the City, and that had took some time, what with trying to get away from all of the fans and having to deal with Jump City's traffic. The Boy Wonder put the three blood samples into the analyzer. He knew that the police had already analyzed the blood, but they didn't quite have the extensive amount of tools and resources that Robin did. He also had the entire databank of the Batcave of known, discovered, and classified toxins to look through- curtsey of the Dark Knight. He started the scanner and was told that a full scan would be completed in fifteen minutes.

Robin decided to go and check up on Starfire to see how she was doing and to bring her some of the food. He arrived quickly to see Starfire petting Silkie while lying in bed.

"Hey Star, how are you feeling?" He asked on the way in.

"Much better now Robin. My little Bumgorff has come to keep me company while you were all busy."

"Your little what? Oh, you mean Silkie." He said as the mutated worm sitting on top of Starfire fell asleep.

He held one of the boxes that contained the Chinese, "I brought you some food from _Charlie's Chinese_ if you are hungry."

"That would be most delightful boyfriend Robin. Thank you."

The young hero put the food on a tray next to Starfire and gave it to her.

Both ate in silence for a moment when the alien princess decided to say something, "Robin?"

"Yes Starfire." Robin put down his finished box and looked at her.

"How is your investigation going? Do you have one of the 'hunches' on what is going on? "

Robin nodded, "I have one right now that I am looking into, but nothing is for certain. I think that what Red X stole and some recent events are connected, but I am not sure how. I am running some tests in the lab to try to see if they are connected."

The two continued to talk about different subjects, ignorant of what that night was going to bring.

AAA

The figure opened one of the four crates in his lab with a crowbar, and threw it to the side. _It is beautiful_, he thought to himself. In the crate were four five-gallon drums with a dirty green liquid inside. Turning around, he went back to a microwave-sized machine with a hose running from its side and a canister held in place inside of it. He pulled the hose along and connected it to the lid of the drum. He then took the three vials of stolen chemicals and placed them in three separate slots on top of the machine. He pressed a button that started the contraption and watched as the green liquid was siphoned through the hose to the top of his device. Then a regulated amount of the three chemicals were drained from their vials.

He smiled to himself as the container began to fill up with yellowish gas. He was finally making some real progress and soon, his product would be known throughout Jump City. The only thing he had to do now is wait.

AAA

Robin looked at his watch, 6:30. He had been talking to Starfire for an hour, "Sorry to have to leave, but I need to check up on the research."

Starfire nodded her head understandingly, "I hope you are successful on your quest for answers." She said as he left for the laboratory.

Robin arrived shortly and looked at the screen for the chemical analysis. The first thing that he noticed that a very small amount of arophosamine, kinophosate, and xenthopium was present. _Not surprising_, he thought. He continued looking through the various chemicals in their blood stream when classified information available. Open? Started flashing across the screen.

"Computer, open classified information."

Password.

"Security override Grayson, Richard."

Access granted.

Robin started to read the classified information on the screen until he realized exactly what it was he was reading. He immediately called the other Titans on the communicator to meet him the medical lab.

AAA

The figured hooked the four canisters to his belt. He also grabbed several needles that contained the altered chemicals inside and hooked them to a gauntlet on his wrist. He donned his hat and left his warehouse. Time to pay the Titans a little visit.

AAA

The other Titans met with Robin. Beast Boy was the first to say something.

"What's going Robin?"

The Boy Wonder looked at his three friends in front of him solemnly, and then back at Starfire. "His name is Jonathan Crane. But in the criminal world, he is better known as Scarecrow."

AAA

Finally, we have a name! Congrats to PsychoNinjaWolf for guessing who it is. Also, thanks for the ideas of what thee fears that they face should be. I already have a few ideas but I am still open to suggestions on what to use for each character! I know that I haven't posted in a while, but I was on vacation, and then I got writers block. This chapter is also short but I am trying to make up for it by doing a little one-shot about Slade. Keep your _eye_ open for it… that was a horrible pun. I'm sorry. Peace out.


	6. Nothing to fear

**(A/N- Fear toxin will be in this, so if parts seem like they don't make sense, just keep reading.)**

AAA

A silence filled the room as the Robin let the words sink in. Cyborg was the first to say something.

"You mean _the _Scarecrow? Isn't he supposed to be locked up in Arkham or something?"

Robin shook his head, "He broke out a few months ago. He hasn't been seen in Gotham since."

"Robin, who is this man that scares crows?" Starfire asked from her bed.

"Scarecrow is an old villain that Batman and I fought back when I was still his sidekick. He used to be a scientist that studied fear and what it did to people. Eventually his studies became an obsession, and he went insane. He developed a toxin that could be injected into the bloodstream or inhaled when it is in aerosol form. Well, technically it is a hallucinogen that causes its victims to see things that aren't there; usually something that they are afraid of. Oh, and if too much is injected or inhaled, it can act very similar to the toxin that Slade injected me with." (A/N- Remember the episode where Robin kept thinking he saw Slade, and even though it was just a hallucination, he still got hurt?)

Raven was the next one to pose a question, "How do you know it his him? And if it is, what is he doing here?"

Robin showed them the computer file that he had pulled up on his computer screen, "The recent cases of the three people that went crazy reminded me of something; now I realize that they are displaying symptoms very similar to Crane's other victims. When I analyzed the blood samples from each of them, I found that they all contain the chemical bonds in fear toxin, as well as the chemicals that Red X stole. If it isn't Scarecrow, than it is someone who has his formula. As for your second question, I have no idea what he would be doing in Jump City."

"So, even if it is this Crane guy, how are we going to find him? I mean it isn't like he's left us a trail of clues to follow." Beast Boy said.

"I'm not sure, but if it is Scarecrow then-" Robin was interrupted when one of the monitors switched on, showing that they had a call from the mayor.

Robin pressed a button and watched as the plump figure of the Jump City Mayor looked down from the screen, "Titans, I need you to switch on your T.V. and watch what is broadcasting on all of the networks."

Robin nodded his head pressed a few buttons which caused the image of the mayor to be a small box on the side of the screen. The majority of it was taken up by a shocking image. A burlap sack- cover face stared down at them. Haphazard stiches held it together with the mouth being a gasmask with stitching over it. (A/N- Arkham City Scarecrow mask.) Another prominent feature of his mask was that his eyes glowed yellow. He also wore a large hat on his head.

_"Greetings people of Jump City. My name is Scarecrow. I just wanted you to know that I have planted four bombs randomly throughout the city containing my new and improved fear toxin. Once they go off, the hallucinogen will spread to everyone, and this entire city will cower in fear!" _

"That message started playing on all stations 10 minutes ago." The mayor explained, "We have no idea where he is and where his bombs are. We were hoping you could assist us in the manhunt."

"I understand Mr. Mayor. I already have a plan."

With that Robin ended the call and prepared to address his team, when he was again interrupted by an incoming transmission. This time all that was displayed was that the caller was unknown. Robin pressed a button already knowing who it would be.

_"Hello Little Birdy."_ Scarecrow looked down at him from the monitor. _"I wanted to check up on you see how you were handling this new situation… tell me, are you scared right now? Perhaps just a little nervous that you don't know where I am, or where my devices are?"_

"What do you want Scarecrow?" Robin snarled.

_"Oh my, temper, temper. Did you know that when some animals get scared that they respond in aggression? It is commonly known as the fight or flight mentality."_ Scarecrow chuckled.

Cyborg, in his computer mind, started to run a trace to find out where Crane was calling from.

The masked villain turned towards him, _"I trust you have nearly traced this call back to Warehouse 52 in the Eastern Industrial District. Oops. I guess I told you. Oh well."_

"Why are you doing this Scarecrow?" Robin asked.

_"Why? It's simple my dear little birdy. I need to finance my research. You could almost think of this little exercise as a T.V. advertisement. I show what my fear toxin will do and it becomes a popular demand in the criminal underworld. I get money and I get to use that money to continue to my research._

_ I would love to stay and chat but, I have some customers to attend to. Come and find me if you dare Robin. But come alone. If I see one officer this whole city is going scream." _With those last words Scarecrow's haunting image vanished from the screen.

"What do we do now?" Raven asked Robin.

"I'm going after him."

"You aren't going in alone are you? You know he is going inject you with the fear toxin as soon as you find him." Cyborg reasoned.

Robin rubbed his chin in thought, of course Scarecrow would have something waiting for him when he arrived, but he also knew that the fear-obsessed villain would no doubt set off the bombs if he even thought Robin had brought backup. "I can't risk him setting off the bombs. I will need your help finding the devices though. Cyborg, can you calibrate your sensors to trace the chemical signatures of the chemicals? Because of it being so potent, it should leave a chemical residue anywhere that it has been."

Cyborg nodded, "I think so. The T-car is still out of commission though. I won't be able to get to the devices quickly.

"No problem dude, me and Raven can take care of the bombs." Beast Boy said, "As long as Cyborg can tell us where they are."

"Raven and I," the female superhero corrected her green teammate's grammatically incorrect sentence.

"Alright, that will work. Cyborg, can you calibrate the communicators to pick up the chemical signature?" Robin said as he started formulating how the plan needed to go.

"Yep." He grabbed the two other Titan's communicators and started to program them.

Starfire started to sit up in bed, "Perhaps I can help with something."

Robin walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "It would probably be best if you sit this one out Star. I don't want you to get hurt any more than you already are." The Boy Wonder turned back to his cybernetic teammate, "Can you check up on her every now and then?"

"Sure. It won't be a problem." Cyborg said as he continued to mess with the communicators. He finished and put the cover back on each of the devices, he then turned to Beast Boy and Raven and handed them their respective communicators.

"Alright, you press this button to bring up the map of the city." He explained to them, "The red blip on the screen is showing you where the closest bomb is." He pointed to a faint dot on Raven's device. "As you get closer the blip will get brighter. Once you find the bomb, point the communicator's camera at it and press the button here. This will allow me to see what you are seeing and walk you through how to disable it."

"Once we disable the bombs what do you want us to do?" Raven asked the leader.

"Regroup at the Tower. Don't worry about Crane, he is mine. Alright, let's move people, time is of the essence." With that, Robin left for the garage, followed by Raven and Beast Boy.

AAA

Scarecrow watched as Robin left the Titan's Tower. _All too easy_, he thought to himself, _As long as Tockman's hacking device works, I should be in without a problem_. He activated a device on his belt and watched as it powered up. He walked up to the side entrance of the building and watched as the door automatically unlocked once he got within two feet of it. He opened the door and stepped in to the Titan's base.

AAA

Robin sped down the road on his R-cycle; weaving through cars. There wasn't much traffic on the roads anyways since it was a little past eight o'clock, which made Robin's trip all the more quick. He soon arrived at the Eastern Industrial District in roughly twenty five minutes. He located warehouse 52 and parked his R-cycle in the front. From the outside, the building looked no different than the myriads more surrounding it, but Robin knew that looks were always deceiving. He walked to the front door and found that a pad lock held it shut. His lock pick made quick work of it and he stepped inside.

Beast Boy followed his tracker by transforming into an eagle and carrying it in his talon. He found the point where the blip was a bright red and dropped to the ground. He looked around him but saw nothing that even resembled a bomb.

He called up Cyborg on the communicator, "Uhh… dude, I don't see anything. It's just some random buildings. Are you sure that this thing is working correctly?"

"Has my tech ever failed us before Grass Stain?" Cyborg replied, "Hold on, let me see where you are."

A slight pause followed before Cyborg started talking again, "I think I know where the bomb is. You're on top of one of the main water lines that runs through Western Jump City. Try finding an access tunnel and heading down."

AAA

Raven flew through the sky until she found where the blip was brightest. She, like Beast Boy found nothing to suggest a bomb. She landed gently on the ground and called up Cyborg on her communicator.

"Let me guess you don't see a bomb?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Raven asked.

"Beast Boy had the same problem. Right now you are standing above a water line that runs through Eastern Jump City. My bet is that Scarecrow placed a bomb on the four main water lines that run through the four districts. That must be how he is going to spread the fear toxin to so many people in such a short amount of time. There should be an access tunnel close by. Go down it and look for anything suspicious."

AAA

Robin looked around but saw only a light bulb hanging over few tables with lab equipment on them. He found a light switch, but found that when he flicked it, nothing happened. Suddenly, it started to rain. Robin felt the cold water run down his cheek. Suddenly, he realized that he was standing on the ceiling, and that the Scarecrow was standing on the floor below him. Scarecrow laughed as Robin continued to fruitlessly, jump to catch him.

The ceiling cracked beneath his feet and he fell into a chasm. He landed in a circus ring. He dropped to his knee and looked up to see Slade staring down at him.

"You could never beat me Robin. Look where your efforts got you." Slade stepped to the side and behind him were four tombstones.

**Starfire.**

**Beast Boy.**

**Cyborg.**

**Raven.**

"No, it can't be. They're fine!" Robin said as he knelt in front of the graves.

Slade stood behind him, "Don't worry, there is a grave for you too." Robin fell into a hole and could only watch as his arch-nemesis buried him alive.

AAA

A/N- Told you it was going to get crazy! Leave a comment in the reviews if there are any errors. Also, tell me how you think each person should react to the fear toxin. Later.


	7. But fear Itself

Beast Boy made his way through the underground tunnel on a concrete path that ran alongside the water line, his keen eyesight allowed him to see in the dark and look for anything that resembled a bomb. He had been walking for nearly fifteen minutes before he heard the _pitter patter_ of something running behind him. However, when he turned around, nothing was there.

He started to freak out, remembering every horror movie that he watched. Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, he chuckled nervously and turned back to continue on the path.

"It's nothing. Probably just some rats. Yeah, rats." He told himself, although each sentence sounded even less convincing than the last.

He picked up the pace and continued forward. Unexpectedly, he felt something brush up against his legs. He yelped in surprise and nearly jumped out of his skin. But when he turned around, he saw no rats. He quickly called Cyborg on the communicator, figuring that the best thing he could do would be to talk to someone.

"Come on, come on." He mumbled as the communicator only showed static. Cyborg should have picked up by now. After a minute of silence, Beast Boy concluded that being underground was blocking the signal. Or at least he hoped that was what was blocking the signal.

The green Titan continued walking until he saw a small shape sitting on the rail that was in between the water pipes and the walkway. Beast Boy continued forward, curios as to what was there. He abruptly stopped when he realized what the shape was.

A green monkey sat on the rail grinning at him in a very human, very sinister, way. _No, it can't be. _He thought as he looked at the familiar animal, _that thing was in Africa, how can it be here? _The monkey stood absolutely still, even as Beast Boy drew closer to it. As he reached out his hand to touch it, the green monkey bit down on his hand and ran off into the darkness. The boy quickly retracted his hand and grimaced in the pain that it caused him. Suddenly he felt his body start to morph.

_What's going on?_ Beast Boy felt every bone and muscle in his body start to twist and contort to a new shape, _I'm not doing this! Why am I transforming? _He felt the hair on his entire body start to lengthen. His muscles increased in mass dramatically and tore through Beast Boy's suit. His fingers turned into claws and his toes into talons. His fangs also increased in length and became serrated. As a final change, the pupils in his eyes narrowed into those of an animal.

After all of the changes were complete, Beast Boy pulled his now hulking frame off of the ground. He grabbed the rail and looked over the side to see the face of the Beast reflected back at him in the clear metal of the water pipe.

AAA

Cyborg walked over to Starfire as she stroked Silkie in a very rough manner. Her face was contorted into a look of anxiety as she wonder if her friends were okay.

Cyborg put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry, Robin and the others will be fine. This will be just like any other mission. Nothing to worry about."

Starfire looked up at him quickly, "Worried? Who is worried? I am not!" she gave a very fake and rather comical grin as she stroked her pet even harder, causing the mutated worm to wiggle out of grip.

Her metallic friend raised one of his eyebrows and crossed his arms. Starfire sighed, "Alright friend Cyborg, I shall do the fessing up. I have developed what Robin calls the 'gut feeling' that something bad is going to happen."

Cyborg smiled sympathetically, "Like I said before, this Scarecrow guy won't be any harder to beat than the villains that we have fought in the past. I mean, we've taken on some pretty big dudes; Raven's dad, Slade, Brother Blood. And we always came out on top. Now won't be any different."

Starfire, reassured by what Cyborg said smiled, "Thank you friend Cyborg for the words of kindness."

"No problem, it's what I'm-" before Cyborg could finish what he was saying, the lights shut off. The emergency lights kicked on and illuminated the room in an eerie yellow.

"Probably just a blown fuse, I'll be back in a second." Cyborg said as he left.

Something told Starfire, though, that it was more than just a simple electrical problem.

A

Cyborg walked down the hallway, his robotic eye acting as a flashlight to help him see. Even though the medical wing had emergency lights, the hallway and the majority of other rooms did not. Cyborg cursed his negligence and continued down the hall way to the elevator. He arrived at the elevator and hit the button to go to the garage. The ride at first was easy, but suddenly, the elevator seemingly malfunctioned and shot down. Cyborg's eyes widened and he yelled as he fell at a rate that would surely kill him.

Against all odds though, the death trap he had entered into stopped. The door opened as it normally would and Cyborg released his grip on the bars. He shakily stepped out of the elevator and realized that he was standing on top of S.T.A.R. Labs. The sky was a steel grey and the air was stale. When he looked over the side of the building, he saw nothing but an empty void.

The teenage boy's half computer mind raced to try and understand what was going on. Before his processors could fully kick in, the whole building started to crumble around him. Chucks separated piece by piece. Some rose into the air while others fell into the abyss below, however the portion of roof that he was standing on stayed completely intact. While this was happening, the logical computer in his mind tried to tell him that it was only a hallucination, that this was only Scarecrow. The voice saying this was small though, and Cyborg's emotions overrode it.

When all of the building finally separated, Cyborg saw that the pieces that had risen into the air formed a sort of spiraling stairway leading upwards into the grey sky. As he stepped towards the first step of the stairway, the elevator behind him opened and the very creature that had killed his mother and maimed him seeped out. _What the heck is it doing here?!_ Cyborg thought as he charged up his sonic canons and aimed at the inter-dimensional creature as it charged towards him.

The weapons on his arms only gave a low _wurr _before they automatically transformed back into his hands. The monster continued to charge forward, and Cyborg saw that he had no choice but to run. He climbed up the stairs, tailed by the creature.

AAA

Having made it a bit farther than Beast Boy, Raven found one of the devices holding the fear toxin. She tried calling Cyborg several times on her communicator, but only got empty static each time. Being that technology wasn't exactly her forte, Raven understood little more about the bomb than what she saw. It was about a meter and-a-half tall and cylindrical in form. A large tube attached to the machine snaked down and connected with the water line. Raven noticed a small control pad resting towards the bottom of the machine, and reached down to see if there was a command on it to shut down the bomb. The empath was stopped when a hand grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. She stepped back in shock at who she saw. Standing in front of her were the two people that she had hated most, Terra and Malchoir.

AAA

Starfire became alarmed after Cyborg did not return from fixing the power for several minutes. She shifted in her bed and looked at some of the books that Raven had brought her a little while ago. The alien looked at the elaborate titles and symbols covering the front pages and decided she would read one of her own books instead. The back cover read, _English Phrases for Dummies_. Starfire read from line to line, trying to improve her understanding of some of the things her friends said.

Several moments later, the common room door hissed open. Thinking that Cyborg was back, the girl looked up to great her friend. Instead she stared straight into the yellow eyes of Scarecrow.

AAA

Raven found herself facing the two enemies on top of a large flat surface that reminded her of an arena. She looked around her and saw that mountains rose all around them. Trees grew at an unnatural speed and meshed together, forming a dome. Somehow though, it was still bright enough that Raven could see her enemies.

"How are you still alive?" Raven said looking back and forth between Malchoir and Terra.

"Did you really think you could keep us imprisoned forever?" Malchoir's smooth voice spoke first. "It was only a matter of time before you had to face us again. Why don't you submit now Raven? It will make life so much easier on you."

"I beat you once Malchoir, I'll beat you again." Raven turned towards the former Titan, "Why are you working with him? I thought you forgot who you were."

"Oh, poor Raven," Terra mocked the empath, not even smart enough to figure out how we came back. Here, we'll give you a little hint."

Both of the villains closed their eyes. When they opened, four red slits took the place of their former eyes.

"But how?!" Raven exclaimed, shocked at the telltale sign of her father, "He is gone forever."

Malchoir smirked and opened his mouth as if to say something. Instead he spewed fire from his mouth at Raven. The empath, her reaction time strengthened by Robin's training, summoned a temporary shield that blocked the fire. The shield was broken, however, when Terra threw a large boulder into Raven. This attack knocked Raven onto her back and left her easily vulnerable to the next attack. Malchoir created a bolt of lightning that shot out and launched Raven into the ceiling. Terra followed up the onslaught by causing the dirt to cluster together in a line. The dirt acted as a giant whip and wrapped around Raven. It pulled her into the ground and then formed into a layer of unmoving rock, completely encasing her.

AAA

A hand punched out of the grave and pushed upwards. Robin pulled himself up and out of the dirt. The mud ran down his face as he completely removed himself from the coffin. Once he stepped out, he found himself to be in one of the last places he expected: The Batcave. Standing over him, was the familiar shape of the world's greatest detective. Robin felt like a small child in the shadow of an overwhelming father as he looked up at Batman.

His mentor's cold glare never broke and he began to speak, "You failed. Just like always, you failed."

"I don't understand." Robin said, not knowing what his adoptive father was talking about.

"Of course you don't, you never understood what it takes to be a leader. And now those that you loved had to pay the price." Batman stepped to the side to show Robin four examination tables. On each was the cold lifeless corpse of each of the other Titans. Robin drug himself over to the table that Starfire laid on and took her pale hand in his. He felt tears streak down his face as he stared at his teammates. "But… but I tried! I tried to be as good of a trainer and leader as you were! I only wanted to do the right thing."

"But you didn't. You failed. You're the same as when you were a small child, helpless. Useless. I don't know why I ever trusted you to go out on your own."

Robin felt the anger swell in his chest at Batman's harsh words. He suddenly drew his Bo Staff and swung it around, knowing that fighting against Batman would be futile. To his surprise, Batman didn't move from the spot that he stood, and the bar connected with his cranium. A loud _CRACK!_ resonated through the Batcave as Batman dropped to the floor, unmoving. Robin paused for a second, not believing what had just happened. He quickly shook out of stupor and ran to his mentor's side.

"Batman?!" Robin shook his adoptive father, trying to get him to wake up, "Bruce! Oh god, I didn't mean it! I didn't mean to do this." His voice cracked and he began to cry.

Slade now stood in front of him, "Congratulations, son. You're now a killer. Just like me." Slade held out his hand for Robin, "Give in, join me."

Robin reached his hand out, but stopped. Something small in the back of his brain told him that all wasn't normal. Why would Batman, trained by the League of Assassins, allow Robin to kill him so easily? How did Starfire and the others die? When did Slade arrive? All these questions started to make him think harder and clearer. He remembered that Scarecrow could inject people with fear toxin and that it causes them to hallucinate. His logic kicked in and he narrowed his eyes.

All though his mind still didn't understand what was going on, Robin grasped what he needed to do. He looked Slade dead in the eye and said with calm resolve, "I am not a killer. And I will never be like you." With that, he slapped Slade's hand away and kicked upwards with his foot. It connected with Slade's mask and shattered it. The cracks seamed to spread all throughout the Batcave, and the entire scene shattered like glass.

A

Robin gasped and opened his eyes. He shot straight up off of his back and looked around. He was still in the warehouse, but was laying on the floor. Next to him was a canister of fear toxin, the lid opened and the gas emptied. Robin ran back outside and hoped onto his bike. When he tried to call Cyborg, the communicator only showed static. This provided all the information he needed, and Robin sped towards the Titan's Tower.

Scarecrow was going down.

AAA

I decided I could right o.k. stories in two to three days, or I could write a better story in four or five days. Thanks for all of the reviews and ideas. Let me know if you see any grammatical errors. Other than that, I don't have anything new going on. See you guys later.


	8. Breaking Out- Part 1

A/N- I would like to preface this by saying that all of the hallucinations for the Titans are happening at relatively the same time except for Robin. He broke out a little bit sooner.

AAA

Starfire gasped and shot star bolts from her bed. Scarecrow, anticipating the reaction, rolled to the side. He hid behind one of the medical tables as Starfire continued to blast at him. The table was sturdy, but it wouldn't hold forever.

"Surrender now, you scarer of crows!" Starfire called from her bed, hoping that Cyborg was returning soon. She kept her star bolts trained on desk hiding the enemy, and rose to a sitting position. She summoned the energy that she could, and levitated in the air. This gave a bit of an advantage, but Starfire still couldn't see where Scarecrow was.

The alien princess stopped shooting for a moment and listened, trying to see if she could hear what the villain was doing. Suddenly, a canister flew over the side of the desk and landed at Starfire's feet. The canister's top opened, spun counter clockwise 90 degrees, and released green gas that wafted into the air. The Titan knew that staying near the weapon would be dangerous, so she had already backed away. This delayed the effects of the fear toxin for a moment, but it would only be a matter of time before the hallucinations would overtake her. This coupled with the fact that she was still weak from her previous injuries put Starfire in a serious predicament.

Starfire knew that she could either attack now, while she was weak; or attack latter, while she was weak and terrified. Making her decision, she let out a Tamaranian war cry, and charged towards the desk that provided cover for Scarecrow. Her eyes glowed green and a concentrated beam of energy shot out and cut the desk in half. Scarecrow was quicker than she had anticipated though, and lounged out at her. Starfire drew back, startled by the forward attack. She reared up to punch, but then stopped when she saw three Scarecrows walking towards her.

_"You don't look to good little girl."_ Starfire's eyes darted between the three Scarecrows that seemed to all be speaking at once. _"Here let me help you._

"How did you get passed Friend Cyborg's defenses?" Starfire questioned.

"_It was simple enough once I dealt with him. I am surprised though, I didn't except to see you or the metal man here. That was the whole reason why I planted four bombs. I suspected that Robin would go after me and assign each of you to deactivate the devices."_

"You wished for my friends to find the fear spreading machines?" Starfire decided to keep Scarecrow talking until she regained enough energy to fight him, "Would that not be the 'counterproductive?'"

"_It would have been a necessary loss. Yes, spreading my fear toxin would be an immediate way to bring the city down. But what good would that do when the Teen Titans find a cure? No, I had to find a much more permanent way to break Jump City." _The three Scarecrows had stopped walking forwards and now stood absolutely still.

Because of Starfire's alien blood system, the airborne toxin wasn't having as much of a drastic effect as it did on the others. Scarecrow, although he wasn't an expert on Tamaranian biology, knew that this was more than likely the case. Therefore, he continued to allow Starfire to "convince" him to reveal his true plan. All the while, he waited for an opportune moment. _"Imagine: me standing in the Titan's Tower, broadcasting my product to the world. The five Titan's withering on the ground, driven mad by my fear toxin. This would scare this city more than anything my toxin could."_

Starfire felt her power grow. "You will do no such thing!" She activated her laser vision and sliced through the three Scarecrows, all of which dissipated into the air. Before she understood what had happened, a needle entered into her arm and the liquid fear toxin unloaded into her blood vessels. The real Scarecrow stood behind her and watched the heroine stumble forwards onto her hands.

"_Too late. I already have."_

AAA

Beast Boy felt his body shift and raise up. The hero tried to transform back into his normal form, but this proved fruitless and he continued to remain the Beast. Interestingly, unlike the other time he had made this transformation, Beast Boy was aware of what was happening and could control his actions. However, what he did was starting to be swayed by the deep seeded instincts of The Beast.

_That monkey must have done this to me_, he thought, _I'll kill the thing! _Beast Boy shook his head and tried to get his thoughts back under control when realized that he was starting to give in to the Beast's savage nature. He tried to get his thoughts back to normal, but the instinct to hunt and kill was too strong. Thoughts turned into incoherent desires. He felt his control slowly start to slip away, but there was little he could do to stop it.

Beast Boy finally caved and took a metaphorical backseat in his brain as the savage creature that he had the body of began to command. He barreled down the tunnel until it opened up into a rain forest. The trees shot high into the sky an allowed only strips of sunlight to pass through. The darkness did not detour the creature that was once Garfield Logan however, and he used his keen sense of sight and smell to navigate. The Beast sniffed the air, looking for hints of life, but smelled nothing by the wet vegetation. He continued forward and saw a path beaten into the think undergrowth. Knowing that this could only be signs of life, he ventured down it until he came to a small clearing.

The Beast turned his head to the side as he looked at what lay in the clearing. A wrecked boat sat in front of him, even though there was not a water source to be seen. Something drew the creature to it. He looked at the side of the boat and realized what the boat was. It was the same ship that his parents had died on in Africa.

"Hello Craig," The Beast's head shot up at the sound of a voice he had nearly forgotten: Nicholas Glatry.

AAA

Cyborg reached the top of the stairs and pulled himself up. He found himself standing in the street in front of Jump City. Wondering where the creature was and how he got here, he went to ask one of the passersby if they had seen anything. Instead of getting a response, the person only stared in shock and started to back away. Cyborg wondered what the person's problem was, but passed it of as just another Jump City weirdo.

He walked over to another person and asked them the same question. He was met with the response, "Oh my god. Look at that freak!" Shocked by the statement Cyborg turned around to see a number of people looking at him. Many were whispering amongst themselves, but the metal teen could still hear what they said.

"What a freak."

"What happened to him?"

"Don't get to close. It could be dangerous."

Many demeaning sentences like those were said, all of which Cyborg had to listen to. His humiliation grew, which caused his anger to likewise spring forth.

"I am not a machine!" he yelled out, but no one seemed to pay attention to him. Instead, they all disappeared, replaced by the same entity that was chasing him before. It charged forward, but Cyborg wasn't giving in and grabbed the mass of the alien. He held it at bay for a short time, but soon it began to seep down his arms. The more he struggled the greater it gripped. Before long it was all the way up his shoulders.

Soon it wrapped around his legs until it consumed his entire body aside from his head. This left his one good eye to widen in fear as the creature completely enveloped his body.

AAA

Raven was not held by the earth for long, and she used her powers to release herself. The empath brushed the dirt off her cloak and narrowed her eyes, "You're going to have to try harder than that." She then levitated on the ground and released a blast of energy that knocked Terra several meters back. Malchoir used his many powers to teleport behind Raven and wrap her in chains of fire. He began to squeeze, trying to either burn her to death or suffocate her.

The pain was great for the empath, but she refused to allow it to stop her. She used her powers to phase through the chains, and then to levitate high into the air. Before Malchoir could attack, Raven shot several bolts of energy at him. The villain attempted to form a shield of energy, but Raven's power was too great. Each bolt connected with Malchoir causing him to fall to his knees. Black energy formed around his neck, and the heroine lifted him into the air.

Malchoir struggled to break free, but he couldn't focus because of the lack of oxygen. Raven summoned a portal behind him with the wave of a hand.

"It's time for you to go back to the pages you came from… Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" The portal behind Malchoir started to suck him in. He frantically struggled to escape the pull of the black hole, but couldn't resist its power.

"NOOOOO," He cried out as it sucked him in. The portal closed, ending the villains cries.

Raven breathed heavily and wiped the cold sweat from her brow. She heard a shuffling behind her and turned around to see a red-eyed Terra rising back to her feet.

"You don't look so good Raven." Terra said in her mocking voice, "Why don't you just give in? It will make life easier." Suddenly, they were standing on top of the Titan's Tower. The scene was very similar to the vision that Raven had when Slade had attacked her. The ocean was made of lava and all of the buildings were crumbling. Dust filled the air, blotting out the sun. The tower itself was a wreck, with sections of it falling off into the sea of death.

Raven gritted her teeth and forced herself to focus on her enemy, not on the environment around her.

Terra looked around, 'Wow, I don't get why they even trusted you in the first place. You're more of a monster than I am. No wonder Beast Boy liked me more than you."

The last sentence for a reason unknown to Raven made her angry; and, deep down, scared that it was true. She formed a ball of energy and threw it at Terra. It narrowly missed the earth-controlling villain as she jumped to the side. Terra countered by pulling several molten stones from the burning sea and hurdling them at Raven. The heroine used her energy to deflect each, redirecting the last one to hit Terra. This knocked the villain onto her back.

The Titan- turned- villain rose up and caused several shards of rock to rise up from the roof. The stalagmite shaped rocks would have punctured Raven if she hadn't levitated into the air a few seconds before.

Terra smirked, "You know, it's funny how you assume that your father is the one behind my revival."

Raven furrowed her brow, "What do you mean?"

Terra shook her head and chuckled in mock sympathy, "You really think Trigon could reach this world? Not even he is that strong. You on the other hand…"

The words sunk into Raven, "What? How- why, would I ever do something like that?"

"Now you're catching on!" Terra's voice started to double, "You and me, we are more alike than you want to admit. Both of us nearly destroyed Jump City. Both of us have issues controlling our powers. We both scare our would-be friends."- As she spoke, Raven realized that Terra's voice was slowly starting to sound more like her own- "We both are killers…. Don't you see Raven? You aren't any better than I am. In fact, you're worse. You tried to hide what you are, at least I showed my true colors. One day though, you're going to mess up. One day you're going to hurt the others so bad that they'll never forgive you."

Raven felt her will power weakening, and she dropped to the ground. She looked up to see Terra shape shifting into something else. Now standing before her was a mirror image of her own body. The only difference was the four red eyes and the demented smile on the doppelganger's face, "But other than those last few discrepancies, you could almost say we are the same person."

AAA

I was going to make this chapter super long, but I decided since I hadn't posted in over a week I would split it up. Therefore, here is part 1 of the conclusion. There should be one or two more parts to the story and then I'll end it. Thanks guys and gals, see you all later.


	9. Breaking Out- Part 2

Starfire awoke to find herself in her bed. More specifically, in her bed on…_ Tamaran_? The alien princess looked around, and, as she had first thought, she was in the room that she stayed in while growing up on her home planet. She arose from the elaborate mattress and looked around.

She appeared to be alone in her room; a small light rested on a nightstand and provided a slight glow. She walked over to her door and opened it gently, peering outside. The hallway was deserted, so the princess stepped outside. As Starfire walked forward, the room started to shift and shake, causing her to stumble forward.

Stone arms reached out from the walls and grabbed at her. She shrieked and fired star bolts at them, flying away from the appendages. Arms continued to reach out from the wall, keeping up with the speed of the Tamaranian. The young heroine pushed through them and saw a door finally appear. It opened, a warm glow emanating from the other side.

Starfire blasted through, the doors slamming shut behind her.

"That was most unpleasant," she said to herself. She got up and looked around, preparing for another unexplained attack. Instead, she only found herself in the throne room of the castle. What shocked her though, was who was setting on the throne. Blackfire looked down at her with an evil smirk.

"Hello sister dear. You're just in time for me to address my subjects."

AAA

The villain that now had control over the Titan's Tower pulled a digital timer out of his pocket and watched it tick down. Scarecrow then looked down at the two bodies withering on the floor at his feet. He shook his head in disgust_. It was almost too easy_, he thought to himself, _Oh well, I suppose that is why I came here. _

The timer in Scarecrow's hand went off and he began the process that had been planned out. He reached over and activated the monitor in the Titan's common room, after which the villain inserted a small chip into one of the open ports on the computer. This would allow him to relay his message across the city. It activated, and Scarecrow began his speech.

"_Hello again. I would like to thank you, my willing volunteers, for waiting patiently for my… experiments to reach you. In only ten minutes all the people in this city will know what true fear means. Before we begin however, I would like to give you all a little idea of what my fear chemicals will do."_ He stepped back from the camera, allowing it to get a view of what was below him. Starfire and Cyborg both withered on the floor, the eyes shut tight in obvious signs of fear and pain. _"Perhaps you would like to see how the rest of the team is doing?"_

He typed briefly on the computer. A camera activated in each of the areas with a device, as well as in the warehouse that Scarecrow was using as a base. Two of the cameras showed him and those watching nothing of course, but the third and fourth showed Beast Boy and Raven in a similar position as the two Titans at the scientist-turned-criminal's feet. He scrunched his eyebrows in surprise when he saw that Robin was not in the warehouse. He decided to address the problem later and continued with his message.

"_Remember, if I see a police officer anywhere near those bombs, I am setting them off." _Scarecrow paused to let the words sink in. "_That is all I have to say to you for now. Good night Jump City."_

He ended the transmission and turned around. _Where are you, little bird? _He wondered to himself.

AAA

The Beast lunged towards Glatry, but stopped short when he was yanked back by a chain around his neck. He looked back to see it connected to a wood stake. He roared in frustration, but couldn't break the chain. Nicholas hopped down from the boat and strode up to him casually, remaining just out of reach.

"Look at you now. Chained to the ground like the animal you are," Glatry said with disdain, "You deserve this. Think about it. Out of all the things you have done, when have you ever been successful? You didn't save your parent. You failed the Doom Patrol. You can barely hold the responsibility of being a hero without help…" With every word, the Beast felt anger swell in his chest.

Before his tormentor could finish the monolog, the green creature snapped his chain and wrapped his claws around the man's head. He drew back and tossed him against the side of the boat, knocking it a few meters back. The Beast walked over to the crumpled heap that was Nicholas Glatry. Cold, dead eyes stared back at him, accusing Garfield of yet another one of his flaws: His savagery.

Suddenly, the jungle trees reached out, there branches formed joints and fingers as they grabbed at the Beast. The knots in the trees glowed yellow, forming eyes and mouths. The snatched at his arms and legs, but the savage creature was not one to give up easily. He sliced the trees to pieces, breaking limbs and ripping some of the trees right out of the ground. The tree-beasts soon overwhelmed him. Against his will, the Beast was pushed to the ground, which broke through and dropped into the living room of the Titans Tower.

He rose to his feet and looked around. The room was a mess. Claw marks adorned the walls, the couch was ripped to shreds, and the T.V. was busted. The Beast sniffed the air, looking for signs of life. His senses told him that the Titans had been here recently, but had left. He followed the sent out the door and into the hallway. Inside the hallway, it was a blood bath. Red streaks ran the side of the walls and bits of cape, metal, and hair were strung about on the floor.

The Beast marched forward, having no doubt that the remains were those of the Titans. He continued to follow the trail all the way up the stairs and onto the roof. He burst through the doors to find Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg. None were breathing and the monster could tell that the wounds were fatal. He then realized that, although he had no memory of doing it, he had been the one to make the kill.

The Beast noted that Raven was still unaccounted for, so he began to hunt.

Keep in mind that throughout this journey, a small portion of the good-hearted boy still remained in the Beast's head. Beast Boy knew what was happening, but could only watch as the creature that overwhelmed him controlled his body. At the sight of his dead friends however, that small portion began to grow.

AAA

Cyborg awoke to find himself on a white and black tiled floor. He looked around to see that the room he was in was a large box with a single, full-body mirror in the center. He observed each of the four walls, looking for any signs of a secret passage of some sort. He then examined the ceiling and floor, but the results were the same. There was no definable exit to the room, so Cyborg decided to see what the mirror was. He walked towards it and was shocked at the reflection that he saw. His bionic parts were shown, but it was empty were his flesh should have been.

"What the-" Cyborg questioned as he stared at the reflection. He looked around the other side of the mirror, but nothing was behind it. He touched his skin, confirming that his face was still there. He stared at the reflection for a moment when it suddenly lunged forward. Cyborg stepped back in shock and punched the machine, knocking it back. His robotic counterpart tumbled backwards, but quickly sprang to its feet. It then let out a mechanical howl as wires extended from its back like snakes and shot towards the metallic teen. He grabbed several in each hand, struggling to keep them away from his face.

Cyborg pulled the machine towards him and then head-butted it. This did little to stop it, as the thing grabbed his head in its robotic fingers and pulled him towards itself. Metal teeth formed on the doppelganger-Cyborg and it snapped open and close.

Taking that the thing meant to bite him, Cyborg twisted out of its grip and kicked forward. The blow landed directly on the doppelganger's face. Its neck made a loud _POP _as its head rolled back. The machine fell onto the floor, and the single eye on the right side of the machines face dulled, showing that it had powered down.

Cyborg inched closer to the scientifically impossible robot, wondering if it was truly dead. He was incorrect in his assumption as an arm grabbed his right leg and the cybernetic-monster began to pull itself up his body.

"Won't you just die?!" Cyborg yelled as he continued to beat the machine with his fists. Snake-like wires again ejected from its back and shot up. The superhero wasn't fast enough to stop them this time and they attached to the robotic portion of his head. More of the wires came up and plugged in to several parts of his body.

He began to frantically pull and tug at the wires, but they were too attached. He fell to the floor, and the machine stood over him. It dropped down so that its head was inches from his. _This is it isn't it?_ He thought to himself, _I'm going to die to my own tech._ He closed his eyes in anticipation of what was to come. Instead, the machine whispered into his left ear.

_ "Wake up." _

Cyborg eyes opened, shocked that he wasn't being eaten alive.

_"This isn't real, wake up!"_

"Wha- what do you mean?"

_ "This isn't real, WAKE UP!"_

AAA

"How are ruling over our people?" Starfire questioned, "You were to be banished forever!"

Blackfire chuckled darkly, "Well it wasn't like the former Grand Ruler was going to stop me…" She pointed to the other side of the room where Galfore, Starfire's caretaker and friend, lay dead.

"Norfka?" Starfire gasped the name given to Galfore when he began taking care of her. She ran over to his limp body and tugged at his arms, denying that he could really be dead.

Blackfire smirked and stood up, the crown on her head shining tauntingly, "And now that he is gone, I can take my rightful place as Supreme Empress of Tamaran."

Starfire rubbed away a single tear. Her sadness turned into bitterness, which in turn became hate, "You will not be the ruler! For I will stop you!"

She blasted towards her evil sister and punched her in the jaw. This knocked Blackfire's crown off her head as she stumbled back. The ruler shook her head and gritted her teeth, "So you still want to fight huh?" Her eyes glowed purple and she shot lasers into Starfire, blasting the younger girl into one of the many pillars lining the walls. Before Starfire could recover, Blackfire grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and flung her into the air. The villain flew up, punching the younger girl in the stomach, which smashed her into the ceiling. Blackfire held her in place and then blasted her with laser vision pointblank.

Blackfire let her sister drop to the ground and hovered down gently beside her. Suddenly, Starfire found herself strapped to an examination table, with Psions and Gordanains standing over her. Blackfire hovered a few feet of the ground, smirking in victory.

"What? You didn't think that my subjects were Tamaranian did you?" the traitorous villain said to Starfire's shocked face, "Why in the worlds would they accept me as their ruler? Instead I banded the Psions and Gordanians together with the promise of providing Tamaran and its people to them. But first the Psions wanted to finish their experiments, go ahead"- Blackfire motioned to one of the aliens who activated a hovering machine and started to attach wires to Starfire.

Starfire screamed and closed her eyes as every sort of pain imaginable coursed through her body. She felt energy course through her as the sadistic scientists used their machine to force-feed her solar radiation. Her body convulsed several times, unable to find a way to release the energy being stored inside her. After what felt like several minutes of the torture, Starfire went numb.

Soon, she began to feel herself slip into the serenity of death. She thought of her friends, and how much she would miss them all. She especially focused on Robin, the Earth boy that she had fallen in love with.

Starfire kept thinking about her friends, wondering what they were doing right now. A small part of her consciousness reminded her of a villain they were fighting. The young girl concentrated, trying to remember something vital. Something about crows…

AAA

Robin stopped the R-cycle at the front of the T-tower. If his prediction was correct, then Scarecrow was up there with two of his friends. He looped around the back and entered through the door, noting that the security system was not working. He crept through the hall bird-a-rangs drawn. He was not going let his enemy get the best of him again.

AAA

A/N- I'm back ya'll! Sorry about taking forever and a day to post this, but in-between school and working, I just haven't had a lot of time. Thank you all so much for your wonderful reviews and let me know with there is anything I need to fix in this chapter.


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